Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Probably My Least Favorite Book of the Year

Three Tigers, One Mountain by Michael Booth

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CBR15Bingo: Guide (purports to be a guide to the relationship between China, Japan, and South Korea, and how to fix it) This is a DNF for me but I did read most of it out loud to my mom in a rage, so I feel qualified to write a review. I hated this book and think it’s completely biased and under-researched, and the fact that he is selling this book as a qualified insider type look into the relationship between these three countries is borderline […]

For a long time I had tried to belong in America, wanted and wished for it more than anything, but in that moment all I wanted was to be accepted as a Korean by two people who refused to claim me.

Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner

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“Mom’s afraid you two will fight if you come,” my father admitted later. “She knows she has to put all her focus into getting better.” I assumed the seven years I’d lived away from home had healed the wounds between us, that the strain built up in my teenage years had been forgotten. Now we were closer than ever, but my father’s admission revealed there were memories of which my mother could not let go.” ― Michelle Zauner, Crying in H Mart “Sweet braised black […]

Alternative facts by your mother can make you one heck of a writer

There is No Shrimp … And Other Lies My Mother Told Me (UFO Catcher Ken Presents) by Kenny Loui

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Is this book by Kenny Loui perfect? No, but it is freaking entertaining and fun. The title (There is No Shrimp … And Other Lies My Mother Told Me (UFO Catcher Ken Presents) ) tells you everything you need to know (though sometimes his mother’s lies are less malice and more “age appropriate” explanations, having a tease (at her son’s expense) and/or herself uncomfortable explaining the situation). These lies range from the downright silly (why are all of her photographs in black an white? Because […]

Himsanity

The Sense of Wonder by Matthew Salesses

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Read as part of CBR15Bingo: Oceania. The writer is of Korean descent, the two POV characters are of Korean descent, and the book is about the experience of Korean-Americans and Koreans in diaspora.  I was in New York for Linsanity. Not a fan of the Knicks but it was an out-of-body experience at the time. You were glued to your tv every night and every night for almost two weeks, it delivered. Even my father-in-law — a lifelong Knicks Hater — was inclined to root […]

What happens when you ban freedom?

Banned Book Club by Kim Hyun Sook

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Banned Book Club is an interesting book. At first, I was not sure I liked or understood it. Yet, once I got deeper into it, I realized what was going on. I did wonder if this was based on anyone’s experiences, or a general look at the time. It is both. It is based on Kim Hyun Sook’s experiences and several experiences of others pulled into one story to protect those involved. Ko Hyung-Ju and Ryan Estrada due their parts to bring this graphic novel […]

The Secret Mission to Feed North Koreans

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Based on a true story, Rice from Heaven: The Secret Mission to Feed North Koreans gives a softer view of a very true hardship the people of North Korea face. When a village in South Korea decides to secretly send balloons filled with rice to feed the hungry people of North Korea, they are faced with many obstacles: the other villagers do not want to give aide to the enemy. The North Korean soldiers could see the balloons and shoot them down. They do not […]



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